Since May 2012, when the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, patients have asked whether or not the PSA test is a good option for catching prostate cancer.

By the numbers In 2011, there were 242,000 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States and about 28,000 prostate cancer deaths. In 2008, worldwide, there were more than 900,000 new cases of prostate cancer and about 258,000 deaths.

Prostate cancer screening started in the late 1980s and peaked in popularity in the early 1990s. Subsequently, the diagnosis of prostate cancer peaked in about 1992. Initially, this led to an increase in prostate surgeries and radiation treatments.